The UK’s Girvan factory aims to recycle 0.5 million litres of water extracted from the milk used to make chocolate each day. Since 2009, the factory has already saved 40% of its water and, by 2014, intends to reduce water usage by 84%.

Nestlé has already reduced overall water withdrawals per tonne of product by one-third since 2005 and has pledged to achieve a 40% reduction by the end of 2015.

In Europe, Nestlé carries out systematic reviews of water resources, identifying “hot-spots” where investment will be prioritised and targeted.

Since 2011, Nestlé has been using the concept of a notional cost to analyse water projects based on estimated water prices. The cost is used to evaluate investing in water reusing and recycling projects, by factoring in water scarcity to reflect the true value of water in that area.